'When one of our coaches and paddlers asked coach Gerard from Shell Va'a where he got his, 'Theory and Technique Concepts' from, he replied, "I read all the books - Steve West books and whatever books I can get a hold of". You inspire us all and give words where there were none or little. Thank you so much. Your hard work is greatly appreciated world-wide from the big to the little fishes.'Dani Gay - Lanikai CC Coach

'If you’re into, or not into, stand up paddling, but want to be educated where it comes from and what it stands for, read this book by Steve West. The more I read, the more I respect the real paddlers of the world!'Luke Egan - Australian Surfing Legend.

'When you stay at a hotel for a stand up paddle race and open the drawer, this should be next to the Gideon's Bible. It is the must-have book for anyone who paddles SUPs!'.Distressed Mullet.com

'I love the book. It's a brilliant piece of work, it's like a Lonely Planet Guide Book for Stand Up Paddling! I'm extremely impressed with how much research and time has been put into creating this book and I sincerely hope every stand up paddle fan out there goes and grabs a copy!'Chris Parker SUPracer.com

This is the best book about Stand Up Paddling you’re ever going to see, and if you’re into SUP, I recommend you go and buy your own edition today. Stand Up Paddle: A Paddler’s Guide by Steve West is now available to order, and it’s a fascinating read.

It’s part history lesson, part forward thinking, part guide book,
part “how to”, part reference manual… From start to finish, the whole
thing is quality. Even before you open up the book (and start reading
the foreword by world champ Travis Grant) you straight away get the sense that this is a quality piece of work.

The best way I can describe it is this: Have you ever travelled overseas and taken a Lonely Planet Guide Book with you? Well this new book by Steve West is the Lonely Planet Guide Book for SUP. Or in other words: It’s the Bible of Stand Up Paddling.

That’s a pretty hefty claim, so why is it so good? There’s a lot of reasons why I loved this book, and why once you buy
it, it’ll go with you everywhere your paddle does. But first, who is
this Steve West guy?

The guy has been writing paddling books for almost two decades. If
you’re into outrigger canoeing, you definitely would have heard about
Steve’s earlier works (such as Outrigger Canoeing: The Ancient Sport of Kings).

Steve West’s background is pretty unique; He was
born in Africa and grew up in more countries than you could count. Was a
pro windsurfer in the 80′s and helped popularise the sport in the UK.
Spent years in Hawaii and Australia getting deep into the outrigger
canoe culture, winning championship races in 6-man teams that included
many of the stars of the OC world. Spent time as Australia’s National
Outrigger Coaching Director. Has countless coaching and writing
accreditations. And finally: Steve’s been a mad keen Stand Up Paddler since 2005, before most people even realised it was a sport.

As Travis Grant says in the foreword to Stand Up Paddle – A Paddler’s Guide:

“Steve West is synonymous with the
Pacific-wide sport of outrigger canoeing, not just as a writer, but as a
competitor, trainer and mentor.”

You get the idea that if there’s one guy capable of writing about
Stand Up Paddling, including everything from its historical roots
through to technique and training, it’s Steve West. So why’s the book itself so good?

What I really noticed about Stand Up Paddle: A Paddler’s Guide is that on almost every page, you read something that makes you stop and think. Almost every chapter includes a hot-button topic that could easily make for one of those endless forum debates. But instead of taking a one sided view, Steve presents the issue, relates it to some other similar sport, describes the possible ways it could move forward, and then gives his own take based on his years in the ocean.

Steve doesn’t just look back at the history, traditions and evolution
of SUP, he also raises some very interesting points about the future of
our sport; where it’s heading, how it might get there, and the possible
pitfalls/lessons we can learn from other sports. For example chapter 3 “Devolution of a sport and a cautionary tale of woe” discusses the massive spike and subsequent decline seen by windsurfing in the 80′s.

Board design issues is another part of this book I loved reading.
There’s a lot of insight into the potential problems that could happen
if we placed further restrictions on board classes. But there’s also
some really interesting points about the differences in board designs
(and the desire to change them) based on both geographical influences
and cultural divides, which most people probably never think of.

There’s way too many interesting topics in Steve West’s “Stand Up
Paddle” to mention, but I guess that’s what you get when a book is close
to 500 pages long and has been five years in the making. Just quickly,
some of my other favourite topics were:

You can see why I compared it to a Lonely Planet Guide Book. It
covers everything and it’s the kind of book you simply enjoy carrying
around with you. It really is like a “Bible of SUP”.

Like I said earlier, Steve West’s Stand Up Paddle: A Paddler’s Guide, is part history lesson, part forward thinking, part guide book, part reference manual and part “how to”.

So if you’re a ”how to” buff and love reading about paddling technique, tips and strategy, you’re going to have a field day with this book. Everything from beginner’s guides to getting started, to the
intricate differences between the Hawaiian stroke, the traditional
Tahitian stroke, the modern Tahitian stroke and every other
stroke variant you can think of, to tips on stability, turning, racing,
pacing, downwinding, steering, and a lot more. In fact this last part is
where Steve really come into his own; he’s written an entire book about
the art of outrigger canoe steering and translates this ocean knowledge
into some interesting pointers on becoming a better downwind paddler.

But I won’t waffle on. You get my point: This book rocks, and I think you should go get a copy right now. As Travis Grant says:

“For as long as I can remember, Steve’s books have been a part of my paddling life.”